Halfway to Heaven
by Xenoglossy
Summary: The summer Draco and his mother "accidentally" spent with Potter and the Weasels. Everyone's keeping secrets and ironically enough, only Ginny can see the full picture.


PRE FIC RANTINGS AND A SPRINKLE OF DISCLAIMER: This came from a badly written ficlet I scrawled out when Sammy (my 1990 486 writing computer) was still dead. It described a summer that Draco and his mother accidently spent with "Potter and the Weasels" in Romania. Although this short piece sucked, upon rereading it, I discovered I liked the idea quite a bit, so I developed a sort of "Romania continuity" that I can write in from several character's POVs. As for the first shot, this is what I came up with. There's a root to all strange behavior, and the ever perceptive Ginny Weasley is the vessel.  
I do not own these characters, blah, blah, blah, no sue, blah, blah ect.  
PS: For the 'horibell inglesh' in Viktor's letter, I actually dug out my old notebook and read through all the stories I wrote before turning seven years old. English is very hard to write "how it sounds" when you know how to spell everything. (I have discovered I love Viktor. Insanely. ^ ^)  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Halfway to Heaven  
Izzy Girl  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
And suddenly it was over.  
  
Not actually over, of course, but it happened to be halfway through the month of August that an amazing sense of false well being had washed over Harry Potter which caused him to act as if the war were ending.  
  
"Y'know Gin..." he sighed into the breeze one evening after everyone else had long retired.   
  
Ginny blinked at him wide eyed and attentive as he rambled on drowsily and ungaurded,   
  
"Sometimes... it all seems so... stupid... it's really pointless... if Voldemort dies tommorow... or if Dumbledore fails... what does it matter...?"  
  
The red headed girl furrowed her brow. This wasn't the Harry she knew speaking. The Harry she was familiar with was ridgidly determined in his crusade against evil and quest for all that was right and good in life. She had seen him contemplative, she had even seen him hopeless, but never... indifferent.  
  
In fact, there was a certain air of nonchalance spreading throughout the small campout deep in the Carpathiens. Hermione had ceased her endless studying and opted, instead, to lounge about locked in lazy conversation with a strangley subdued Ron and a melanchony Harry. Fred and George, having closed the joke shop for the summer, were often seen leaning over a table of figures with the terminally depressed Percy. Even the elder Weasleys seemed mellowed. Molly hadn't henpicked her children (and adoptive children) in weeks and Arthur's immature zeallousness had long since simmered into something that more resembled good humour.  
  
The change had been first noticed at the late July arrival of two surprise visitors.  
  
Charlie had looked rather abashed as he pressed open the cabin's door that day, only to reveal the ever smirking Draco Malfoy, shadowed thinly by Narcissa Malfoy, behind him.  
  
The Malfoys, minus Lucius, had been relieving some of the war's pressures, supposedly, through a calming vacation in the depth of scenic Romania. Unfortunately, so Narcissa explained cooly, they had become stranded and quite unable to get themselves out of the mountains.  
  
Narcissa Malfoy was every bit the smooth-talking, deveastatingly beautiful, even tempered essentially emotionless woman one would have come to expect would be married to a man such as Lucius Malfoy. Her cold eyes were electric blue and her twany golden hair fell in wavy masses down her slender back. Her full, long, red lips were forever drawn in a horizontal line of icy detatchment. She dressed in only the finest clothing and even the slightest glance from her glassy irises called her son to instant attention.  
  
"Malfoy's mother." George had irritatedly reminded Ron with a swift smack across the head when he caught his younger brother oogling the woman.  
  
"Right." Ron nodded deftly. Hermione simply grimaced.  
  
As for Malfoy himself, the ever impeccable sulk spent a great deal of his time leaning bitterly against walls and making snide comments. He always wore long sleeved shirts, and insisted, most of the time, on donning his robes. He would twirl his thick, burgandy wand between his fingers and occasionally grin evilly at Harry as the be-spectacled boy walked by.  
  
"Nice day, Potter, wouldn't you say?"  
  
"I tell you..." Ron exclaimed after hearing such remarks, "He's an assasin, Harry. I would watch your back. His father probably sent him, no doubt... though I wonder why he brough mother-dearest along..."  
  
Harry shrugged, not really listening, and Ginny worried over his silence.  
  
  
*.*  
  
  
She had been struck with a case of insomnia of late. While the others grew slower and less acute she had become increasingly aware and high strung. She often heard subdued voices through doors and walls late at night as she softly padded along the wooden floorboards.  
  
One night, she found herself frozen on the stairs as a conversation worked it's way into her disbelieving ears.  
  
"... I can't help but think it's halfway to heaven here..."  
  
"Hmm... Potter, your idealistic romanticisms are definately not doing anything for my mood..."  
  
"What do you..."  
  
"Father's dissapeared... most likely gone mad."  
  
"... ah..."  
  
"Potter, there's a war happening outside. You're going to have to face it someday."  
  
"Oh, and I suppose you have... you and your Mother are in the same situation as the rest of us here."  
  
"I killed eight people three days ago."  
  
Momentary silence. Ginny took this chance to take another catious step forwards and poke her gaze over the railing. The fireplace had nearly died and the living room was bathed in an eerie, red glow. Malfoy was sprawled out on the largest chain in the room, directly in front of the fireplace, his chin in palm and legs drawn up beneath him. Harry was sitting on the floor, resting his head on the sofa cushions. His legs were crossed and he was clutching his glasses lightly in one hand.  
  
Ginny breathed a sigh of relief before she was even able to recognize what is was she had been fearing. As the breath escaped her lips, Harry spoke.  
  
"Draco..." and Ginny winced, "It's summer vacation."  
  
Malfoy turned his gaze towards his half-asleep adversary and raised a thin eyebrow.  
  
"Yes, Potter, I realize that."  
  
Harry straightened and polished his glasses on the cuff of his sweater before placing them precariously on the edge of his nose, "I mean... we don't have to keep up apperances."  
  
Harry rose and Ginny gulped. She released the railing from her white-knuckled, vise-like grip and quickly retreated upstairs, narrowly missing the spectacle of Harry placing his hands on either arm of Malfoy's chair and leaning slowly forwards...  
  
  
*.*  
  
  
The next day, Ginny attempted to pointedly ignore what was now so painfully obvious to her. The way Malfoy smirked differently at Harry than at Ron or Hermione, or the way Harry kept sneaking glances at him over his porridge at the breakfast table.  
  
Instead, she teamed up with Hermione for the day. The usually bookish girl was smiling a little too hard, and doing just about everything in her power to avoid her studies.  
  
"Come on, Ginny. Charlie said that the dragons are performing mating rights this week. I would love to observe the male's mating dance."  
  
During which, she laughed, and said: "Hmm, I wonder if Ron would be more sucsessful with girls if he did something like that." Ginny laughed too, but found herself unable to shake the feeling that something had made Hermione skittish.  
  
Ron was loitering about the entrance to Hermione's room, and Ginny took that as her cue to make a discreet exit.  
  
It was early yet, though the sun was hanging low and the first stars had begun to unveil their faces to the weary world. Twilight is a dangerous time to be wandering about a tense household, Ginny decided, upon accidently discovering Narcissa Malfoy sobbing into her hands in the living room. Percy was in his room tending to a rather sinister looking owl, and Harry and Malfoy were to be found nowheres.   
  
"... well... there's no other way we're going to get the money..."  
  
That was George. Ginny stopped dead in her tracks.  
  
"George, dealing with Death Eaters is not that simple."  
  
"But what else can we do? They didn't just threaten the shop, but our lives!"  
  
"It's still not right... you know what happened with Perc..."  
  
"Shhh... Fred, keep your voice down! No one was supposed to know about that!"  
  
Ginny slowly turned and made her way back downstairs, hoping to slip out of the house before anyone noticed. Too many secrets, too many lies, too many people. She slammed the door behind her and ran.  
  
  
*.*  
  
  
Ginny Weasley was not a nosy person by nature, but under the given circumstances, she felt it necesary to become one.  
  
Charlie's cabin was made with the notion that he'd often be keeping guests. There were two floors. The first floor contained the living room, dining area and even a proper kitchen in case some stray muggle found their way in. Charlie's room was on the first floor, although the second floor contained eight gust rooms (all full) and three washrooms. The third floor was little more than a mix between an attic and an owlery, but since the summer boarders had arrived, it was a constant mess of feathers, hooting and the occasional tropical messanger whenever Sirius was writing.  
  
It was shortly before sunrise when Ginny awoke and crept up to the thinly floorboarded owlery.  
  
"Hey Hedwig." she whispered, and the white owl cooed at her in familiarity. She squinted in the darkness around the ten or so owls preening and shifting their wings until she found Hermes and Errol sharing the same rafter. Both owls knew her and trusted her, so there was no fuss as she shakily untied the letters attatched to each's leg. The next owl she sought out was the large, nearly black horned one that Ginny had come to recognize as Viktor Krum's messanger of choice. He glared at the girl with attentive, golden eyes, but made no movements as she relieved him, too, of his message.  
  
The sun was beginning to peek over the mountains, and Ginny huddled quietly in a dusty corner as she unfolded her family and friend's private mail.  
  
  
~We grow impatient with your excuses. The Dark Lord awaits your reply. Do not think you can dabble in our business without some repurcussions, you know what's expected of you.~  
  
  
Ginny blinked and reread the scrawled note several times.  
  
"Hermes... was carrying this?" she whispered in disbelief, "For... Percy?"  
  
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the Weaselette tampering with the mail." Ginny's head shot up and she realized that she had erred. If she had been more attentive, she might've noticed that the door to the Malfoy's room was slightly ajar. She might have even heard he soft, padding footsteps of someone ascending the stairs. Instead, she was caught red-handed by the last person she wanted to see... Draco Malfoy. The Slytherin stood over her with crossed arms and a superior smirk. Ginny shivered, "You know..." he continued in that upper-class drawl, "I once heard a Muggle say that's a federal offense..." he paused, "Whatever that means, I'm sure it's not good."  
  
Ginny stood quickly and stuffed the letters behind her back. She raised her chin and stared the blonde down defiantly, "Mind your own business, Malfoy." she snapped.  
  
Malfoy raised an eyebrow, "I could say the very same for you, Weasley, but instead I would prefer to inquire as to why you're sifting through your family's mail at a time when you can be certain no one would interfere?" his pause was a suggestion for her to answer.  
  
Ginny crushed the letters in her fists as she felt that instictive anger rise in her chest. She gritted her teeth until her temples pounded and wondered, momentarily, if Malfoy practised being a prat in the mirror every night. There was a cutting reply billowing up inside of her, if only she could grasp it. It was on the tip of her tounge, but she stopped short and breathed deeply, allowing the rage to flow out of her instead.  
  
What she said was: "Please, don't tell anyone."  
  
Malfoy blinked blankly and regarded her with carefully tempered, gray eyes. After a moment, he laughed. Ginny was angry again, insulted, embarassed. Only an ass like Malfoy would laugh after she'd demeaned herself, pleaded for mercy. She gritted her teeth, "Listen here, Malfoy..."  
  
He cut her off, "Well, perhaps we can make a deal, Weasley. I won't tell if you won't."  
  
Ginny's fist loosened, "What?"  
  
Malfoy rolled his eyes, "I know you know. It's not a difficult concept to grasp, really. I pretend I didn't see you up here rifling through other's private lives and you don't tell mudblood and big brother Weasel about, er... about Potter and I."   
  
Ginny's heart skipped a beat. It was one thing to suspect, and perhaps even believe those suspicious, but it was another to have them confirmed beyond a doubt. She bit her lip and stepped backwards.  
  
"I... I don't know what you're talking about..." she whispered, frightened of that particular truth for more than one reason. First and foremost in her mind, it meant that Harry was not just momentarily occupied with some other girl. It meant he wouldn't eventually come out of it, realizing that, without a doubt, it was Ginny he *really* wanted. If Harry really was stuck in an infatuation with Malfoy, it meant that she was most likely out of the running forever. As much as she hated to admit it, if Malfoy was what Harry wanted, Ginny was no contest. She could never be that seductive, menacing, witty or purely... evil... but beneath her despair over the loss of her childhood crush, there was another sneaking notion that if the Harry/Malfoy affair was everything she had feared it to be, perhaps the situation with Percy, and even the one with Fred and George, held just as much truth.  
  
Malfoy unfolded his arms and placed them on his hips. He frowned, "Don't play dumb, Weaselette. I saw you eavsdropping on us the night before last. You were on the stairs when Potter kissed me. Listen, if you don't want Mum and Papa to know what their precious little daughter has been up to in the wee hours of morning, promise to keep your mouth shut about what you saw between Wonderboy and I. I don't fancy the beatings I'm likely to recieve at the hands of your older brothers. That's the sort of thing that ruins summer vacations, you know."  
  
Ginny twisted her lip beneath her teeth and looked Malfoy over. His demanour was cold, collected, doubtless and confident, but there was a storm brewing in the depths of his overcast irises. His white cheeks were colored slightly and his mouth was pulled into a thin, tense line. Presently, Ginny realized, with great satisfaction that Malfoy was not threatening her, but begging her. A sudden rush of power replaced her helplessness and she stood taller, drunk with the control she posessed.  
  
"Well, you're right, I saw okay!" she forced down a self-satisfyed grin, "But I'm still not sure that it's in my best intrest to keep your little secret. For all I know, you could be using the Imperius curse on poor Harry."  
  
Malfoy flushed bright red. He growled, "Why you little bi..." he regained his composure quickly and recrossed his arms, "I already told you..." he began, voice strained and quivering, "That I'll keep your secret if you keep mine." after a moment he added, somewhat triumphantly, "Anyways, Potter can fight off the Imperius. Everyone knows that."  
  
"Right. But Malfoy, see here, do you really think my Father is going to believe the words of Lucius Malfoy's son?"  
  
Malfoy opened his mouth, then closed it. Several emotions formed on his face, then dissolved into fustration. Finally, he threw his arms in the air and stamped his foot, "Fine! What the hell do you want from me!"  
  
Ginny carefully evaluated the situation. Malfoy was just about pushed to his limit. If she played her cards right, she could request virtually anything.  
  
'Why don't you go conviniently fall off the nearest cliff?' she considered asking, but realized that was pushing it.  
  
"Don't touch Harry." she said with dead finality.  
  
Malfoy's face drained of color, "What?" he asked beathlessly.  
  
"I said: 'Don't touch Harry'. Ever." she was quite content with the way Malfoy seemed to shrink back.  
  
"Hmph. I see..." the Slytherin sneered, albeit shaken, "The cat's stalking out her territory. Funny, Weasley, you never struck me as the jealous type."  
  
"This has nothing to do with jealousy!" Ginny hoped Malfoy couldn't see through her lie, "It has to do with Harry's emotional state. He's expected to be some big war hero, and he doesn't need something stupid like caring about you mess it up. He's got enough on his mind."  
  
Malfoy nodded heavily, "Whatever you like, Mrs. Potter." he spat, "Funny how you're so quick to assume Harry's not causing me any trouble as well. Now if you'll excuse me, I've an owl to send. Today is Gregory's birthday and, though it may surprise you, I often send my friends condolances on such occasions." he went about the business of sending his letter swiftly, then turned on his heel and stalked off downstairs. It was only after he left did Ginny realized that it had been the first time in her life she had ever heard Malfoy call Harry by his first name.  
  
  
*.*  
  
  
~Deerest Hermy-ninny~  
  
Ginny sighed. Viktor even wrote Hermione's name the way he said it...  
  
~I apalogise for mi horibell inglesh, but mi tuter has insested I lern how to writ it properli. I hav bin veri wured sins u wrot about wat hapind wit tha deth eter. U r wun of the most taluntid witches I hav evar met and I do not thenk dat u shuld giv up becas of it. Do not thenk me hars but it is a war tat u-no-who has startid and evan gud pepol lik u do thengs thea mai regrat. If u had not dun wat u did ur parants migt hav diyd. Eniwon wuld hav dun tha sam. U wer not desobayen Dumbilldoor, u wir protektin wat is empotant to u and I am sur u wil not b expeld. I awat ur repli anktousli.  
  
luv Viktor~  
  
  
*.*  
  
  
Ginny was rather overwrought that day. Over breakfast, she watched Malfoy like a hawk, much to his displeasure. She was also keeping an eye on Hermione, attempting to unravel the puzzle of Viktor's letter.  
  
"Ron. Would you like to come into town with me today?" the subject of Ginny's study asked abruptly, fixing her dark, intelligent eyes on the rather downcast red-head.  
  
Ron jumped and spat his orange juice into his cold cereal. He sputtered an affirmative as Harry giggled against the rough cut of his sweater cuff and Malfoy glared viciously at his untouched eggs.  
  
Ginny watched the exchange emotionlessly and at the end, Hermione stood stiffly and cleared the table.  
  
Ron leaned over and whispered something to Harry, who grinned broadly and nudged his friend suggestively. The laughed. Ginny rolled her eyes and thought something along the lines of, 'Boys... egads'. She found herself meeting the gaze of Malfoy, who had much the same sentiment plastered across his plae features and nearly smiled, catching herself the moment the Slytherin returned his studious attention to his meticulously abused meal.  
  
"Remember what we talked about this morning..." she muttered as she passed him in the hall later on. He slumped his shoulders and narrowed his already thin eyes at her.  
  
Even later on, Ginny had nearly forgotten about the mess she was slowly winding herself into due to a good read in front of the now dead fireplace when Harry tapped her softly on the shoulder. She turned her head sleepily to look at him and blinked expectantly.  
  
"Hey, Gin?"  
  
"Yes Harry?"  
  
"Have you noticed anything strange about... Malfoy?" he coughed.  
  
Ginny bit her lip and folded her novel on her lap, "What do you mean? The git's as mopey as ever, if that's what you..."  
  
"No, no, I mean..." Harry leaned back on his heels and stared at the ceiling, "I'm just wondering if he's up to something... he's been ignoring me all day... usually Ron's the one to point these things out, but since he's out..."  
  
Ginny felt a small sense of triumph, but instead of yeilding to it, she appeared contemplative, "I really don't know, Harry. I don't pay much attention to him, to tell the truth. Maybe you should wait until Ron gets back from town?"  
  
Harry shrugged, "Okay, I was just wondering. I saw you talking to him earlier and thought maybe..." he trailed off and both were silent for a few moments. Ginny nearly went to pick up her book again, but Harry interrupted her, "You know Gin, Charlie said he was taking Mrs. Malfoy up to see the dragons today... he intvited anyone left in the manor. I think we should go."  
  
Ginny didn't even have to consider the offer.  
  
  
*.*  
  
  
Narcissa Malfoy had spent the better deal of a month locked away in the room she shared with her son, a scathing clue that she either felt unwanted, or had no desire whatsoever to associate with the Weasleys. Aside from the time Ginny had spotted her crying in the living room, Narcissa was notiably absent. Malfoy even brought meals to her in the morning and evening. It's true that something was most likely wrong there, but frankly, Ginny didn't care.  
  
"Harry, you might be interested to know that this is the clan I integrated Norbert into." Charlie winked at Harry who perked up readily enough after hearing this. Ginny glanced at him questioningly, but neither her brother nor her friend seemed much in the explaining mood. Mrs. Malfoy was staring out the window of the lift blankly.  
  
"Too bad I don't have a camera on me..." Harry sighed, "I bet Norbert's nearly grown now. Hagrid would cry, I think, if I brought him back a picture."  
  
Charlie chuckled, "Now that would be something to see... if he weren't always so busy in the summer it would have been great to invite him down. I was actually considering it, you know, but..." the older Weasley hesitated, "He's been so busy with all the Wizard-Giant negotiations and such... the threat of war really has taken a lot out of him."  
  
Narcissa jerked and glared momentarily at Charlie before staring out the window again. Harry paled and turned his attention towards his hands in his lap and Charlie looked generally guilty. Ginny sighed heavily and focused on the way the noonday sun made Harry's eyes seem very clear and glassy. His eyes really were beautiful, it was quite a shame he always hid them behind his glasses.  
  
"Harry..." she began. He glanced up at her and suddenly she forgot what she was about to say, "Nevermind..." she muttered and looked at the ceiling.  
  
The rest of the ride was not particularily bumpy, but Ginny was glad when she was finally able to set her feet down on solid ground. She pressed her eyes closed and lips together, regaining her bearings, and slowly straightened. When she opened her eyes, she caught a gasp in her throat as she allowed her pale eyes to widen and her mouth fall open.  
  
"Wow..." Harry whispered beside her.  
  
The sun was just beginning it's descent, and a single cloud glazed it's surface. Around it circled five or six majestic, glimmering outlines (Ginny was too bewildered to count properally. There may have even been seven). The dragons couldn't have been more than 20 feet above them and their strong, metallic bodies writhed and shimmered against the brilliant noon sky with fervour. Ginny had never seen a dragon so close before and felt greatley overwhelmed. She didn't realized she had sunk to her knees.  
  
"My son will not be pleased that he missed this." Narcissa said stiffly, not once taking her icy eyes from the flight of the Norwegian Ridgebacks, "He has always been fascinated with Dragons..."  
  
"Draco... it means dragon, doesn't it?" Harry lowered his eyes as he asked the question.  
  
Narcissa granted Harry a slightly taken aback look as Charlie answered, "Actually, Draco is a constellation that looks like a dragon, but is actually a snake."  
  
Ginny ginned inwardly, 'How suiting.' she mused.  
  
"It also means Dragon in Latin, Mr. Weasley," Narcissa said, a touch snidely, "I meant it to mean Dragon." she paused and returned her frozen gaze to the sky, "I used to come here a lot when I was a girl." she whispered.  
  
There was a pointed silence in which Harry, Ginny and Narcissa craned their necks and said nothing. Charlie broke the quiet rather abruptly by clapping his hands, "Do you guys want to see something really spetacular?" he asked, grinning the broad, red-headed Weasley grin.  
  
Ginny stood up and tipped her head, Harry nodded lightly and Narcissa stared at him. Charlie raised two fingers to his lips and whistled loudly four times. Suddenly, one of the muscular forms dived from it's flight and with a dramatic gust of wind, skidded to a stop between the collective figures on the cliff. The dragon nuzzled Charlie and shifted it's massive shoulders as it crouch on it's haunches. The creature was a sleek, sylph, dark and moltted figures. The thin but tight skin on connecting it's wing bones was very nearly transparent, and it's large, slitted eyes were a deep gold. It was one of the most beautiful things Ginny had ever seen in her short life.  
  
"Harry, come here." Charlie beckoned, "You too Gin." he paused, "And of course, Mrs. Malfoy." All three approched the long, slender muzzle of the contented dragon catiously. It was pretty, but that fact alone did not discount the danger factor. Ginny still remembered the Tri-Wizard tournemant nearly a year and a half earlier, in which Harry had nearly earned himself a new scar.  
  
"Here, Harry, put your hand right here on his nose and stroke him gently in this direction." Charlie demonstrated and the dragon made a satisfyed sound somewhat like a pur.  
  
Harry stared at him, "You want me to... pet him?"  
  
Charlie nodded vigourously, "Don't worry. He won't hurt you, I promise." he took Harry's hand and placed it between the dark creature's eyes, "Now just move it this way."  
  
Harry did so, albeit akwardly, and the dragon not only purred, but flicked it's tail in approval. Charlie laughed, "He still remembers you, I guess."  
  
Harry's face lit up, "You mean THIS is Norbert?"  
  
Charlie smiled, "Well, yes. You didn't think I'd take you up here to see the ridgebacks, talking about Norbert the whole time without a reason?"  
  
Harry continued the petting of Norbert with a steady confidence. He looked up at Ginny, "Hey, Gin. Why don't you try too? He's really harmless... one of Hagrid's, you know."  
  
Ginny reached out on freckled hand and carefully touched the dragon, trembling as she did so. When he didn't leap up and try to eat her, she eased up and began rubbing his dry skin between her fingers. His scales felt strange beneath her underworked hand, soft and rough at the same time and each induvidual scale seemed to rise and fall with his breath, move with it's own special lucidity.  
  
She snuck Harry a truly contented grin and laughed jolily, "Halfway to heaven, eh Harry?"  
  
Ginny didn't know what had made her choose that particular phrase to descibe the feeling inside her and it had slipped out almost unconciously. She wanted to act shocked and put her hand to her mouth- show some sign that she hadn't meant to say that, knew she wasn't supposed to, but instead she remained unfazed and tried not to notice that Harry had stopped his stroking motions across Norbert's muzzle and was staring at her with ungaurded horror.  
  
'Stop being so obvious, Harry...' she pleaded silently, 'Before it hurts me too much...'  
  
Narcissa Malfoy had strayed off from the group and was standing cross armed, watching the dragons still in flight. Her flaxen hair spilled about her in the wind, making it seem as if she were followed by her own, personal sun.  
  
  
*.*  
  
  
Ron and Hermione didn't return home until after dark, and when they finally did walk through the front door, they were followed by the downcast Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. It was raining.  
  
The current situation in the living room was Ginny curled up in the same chair Draco had been sitting in the night she saw him with Harry. Narcissa and Charlie were holding a quiet, akward conversation about life in Romania and dragons in the corner by the bookshelf and Harry was sprawled out across the floor on his stomach reading a Quidditch book. Percy had spent the entire day locked up in his room and showed no sign of coming out anytime soon, and George and Fred were supposedly in town as well.  
  
No one knew where Malfoy had dissapeared to and Ginny was glad for it.  
  
Hermione shook out her raincoat in a manner that struck Ginny as mathematical and took a seat on the couch, folding her legs beneath her. She looked around and turned to Ginny.  
  
"How was your day, Ginny?"  
  
Ginny blinked and looked at Hermione as if she had been snapped out of a daydream, "Oh... I... er... yes, it was wonderful. Charlie took us up to see the dragons... er... that is, Harry, Mrs. Malfoy and I."  
  
"We saw Norbert." Harry sat up and turned his book over.  
  
"That's wicked!" Ron exclaimed, appearing very suddenly in the midst of the living room. His hair was a slick, red mass stuck to his head and dripping wet. He had always been too proud to wear a hood. 'It looks dorky, Ma.' he used to complain.  
  
"Yeah..." Harry agreed.  
  
"How is he doing?" Hermione wondered, with very sincere concern.  
  
"Great... he seems really happy... and he's quite friendly."  
  
"Not like the one from the tournament, I gather." she smiled her thin, Hermione smile. Ron laughed and Harry winced.  
  
"No... most definitely not."  
  
"Aw... it's too bad no one here has so much as a ruddy camera." Ron threw his wet self onto the couch beside Hermione who didn't so much as flinch, "Hagrid would..."  
  
"Have a heart attack, I know." Harry frowned, "Not much makes him smile anymore... but I'm sure seeing Norbert would..."  
  
Hermione nodded gravely, "Yes. He was so worried when Charlie took him away."  
  
"That was six years ago..." Ron furrowed his dripping brow, "It doesn't seem nearly so long if you look back..."  
  
The three observed a contemplative silence and Ginny felt quite left out. Narcissa had excused herself some minutes ago and Charlie was ambling across the room to talk under his breath with his parents. Ginny sighed.  
  
Hermione stood and stretched, "Well... I think I'm going to head off to bed now. Goodnight all." she bowed politely and left, followed by Ron's eyes. When she was gone, he sighed and turned to Harry.  
  
"What are you reading?" he asked.  
  
Ginny unfolded her book once Harry and Ron began their Quidditch talk. Boys and their games... she loved Quidditch, there weren't many Wizards alive who didn't, but failed to see why the male species wasted so much time and energy talking about it when sports were created to be PLAYED.  
  
Finally, Harry's speech grew sluggish and his eyelids would droop whenever Ron spoke. Ginny heard him mumble something about going to bed and Ron asked him to leave the book downstairs. Everyone else had turned in long ago, and once Harry was gone, Ron and Ginny were presumeably the only two awake in the entire house.  
  
Both were reading. Brother and sisters so close in age didn't often feel a great need to constantly talk to each other. They'd been around each other for fourteen years, words had long lost their usefullness.  
  
"How was your daytrip?" Ginny asked offhandedly.  
  
Ron lazily turned the page of his read and shrugged, "Um... it was okay."  
  
Ginny didn't take her eyes from the text of her book, "Well... why did Hermione just invite you then?"  
  
"Um... we had to talk."  
  
"Talk?"  
  
"Yeah... just Hermione and me... it was kinda... important..."  
  
Ginny hmmed, "Oh... okay... I get it." she giggled softly.  
  
"Hey!" Ron slammed his book down beside him on the couch, "Gin, it's not like that. Don't be getting silly ideas!"  
  
Ginny shot Ron a furious look, "Shhh! Ron! You're going to wake everyone up!"  
  
"Oh... sorry..." Ron blushed, but continued looking agast, "Gin... really, Herm and I are just friends... I think... I... um... but it wasn't about what you're thinking."  
  
Ginny finished reading the page she was on and flipped the the next one nochalantly, "Okay. Then what was it about?"  
  
"Why are you so curious?" her brother demanded, "If Hermione wanted to talk about it in secret, then obviously she had her reasons. The reasons being she didn't want anyone else to know."  
  
"Ah. So it was about you two."  
  
"No!" Ron's ears looked like tomato slices, "It wasn't! It was about..." he stopped himself short and growled in fustration. Ginny knew her brother far too well.  
  
"Okay Ron, I believe you." Ginny said airily in a tone that suggested she didn't actually.  
  
Ron picked up his book again and opened it with a thick thud. After a few minutes he set it down again.  
  
"Hermione's thinking of giving up magic..." he sighed, looking at Ginny with strained, blue eyes. Ginny glanced up from her book in surprise. She honestly hadn't believed that bit of Viktor's letter.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Exactly what I said, Gin... I don't know if she wanted me to talk her out of it or what... probably not... if she wanted that, she would have talked to Harry, not me..." he shifted and pushed himself to his feet, "You don't tell anyone, okay Gin?" his voice was low and absolute; Ginny nodded deftly, "I... uh, it's getting late... I'm going to bed, okay? Don't you stay up too much longer." he yawned and stumbled towards the staircase.  
  
Ginny stared at the red fire until the last embers died before heading up to bed herself. All the pieces of the mystery were beginning to fall into place, but Ginny could still not see any pattern, rhyme or reason as to why all these things were happening. As she opened the door to her room, she thought she caught glance of someone pale and golden in the owlery, outlined faintly by fading moonlight. She squinted twice before giving up and going to bed. She never could figure out which Malfoy it had been.  
  
  
*.*  
  
  
The ministry had dissolved. Or at least was in the process. Ginny had learned this much from the letter she had lifted off Errol. Most of it was incoded, but from what she could tell a few major figureheads whom no one would ever had suspected had actually been death eaters. The letter had also included a list of Voldemort supporters who had been captured.  
  
Lucius Malfoy's name was on the list.  
  
"Father hasn't sent an owl in weeks, Mother..." Malfoy had reappeared and spent most of his day attatched to his mother's side. The two of them monopolized the living room, Narcissa doing violent needlework while her son read a hefty-looking history book.  
  
Narcissa nodded, but barely acknowledged Malfoy's statement.  
  
She knew, of course.  
  
Ginny remembered the hazy ghost Malfoy in the owlery and desperately wondered which of the two it had been haunting the owlery that morning while the moon still hung faintly in the sky. Which of them widdled away time that should have been spent sleeping waiting for a letter that would never come. Maybe they were human... or Narcissa was at least. Ginny still couldn't forgive the younger Malfoy for laying his well-manicured hands on her Harry. She realized, disjointedly, that it was ridiculous to be so possesive of something that wasn't even hers, but the point was she had stilled Harry's intrest in Malfoy and that's all that mattered.  
  
Ginny was in the living room, reading as always. There didn't seem to be much else to do in these dwindling days of summer. She remembered faintly the summers of her childhood. In August, she would hardly remember school, spend her days running around the garden with Ron and the twins, taunting the garden gnomes. Now all the free time and sweaty afternoons served only to give her pause to think about all those things she didn't want to think about.  
  
Age changes a person. Age and war.  
  
"How did you used to spend your summers, Malfoy?" she asked very suddenly.  
  
He looked up at her in disgusted shock, "That is honestly the last thing I ever would have expected you to ask, Mrs. Potter." he glared. His mother was out of the room, so he was most definitely not on his best behavior.  
  
Ginny snorted, "I'm not trying to be friendly with you..."  
  
"Well, it's a rather friendly question."  
  
"I'm just curious... about how you all lived..."  
  
"Hmph. I see. You want to know what it's like... having money and all."  
  
Ginny slammed her book on the arm of her chair and said, "Okay, forget I said anything. You really don't have to be such a prat all of the time, you know. You'd probably have a lot more friends." she opened her book in fury.  
  
Draco was solitary. Then he began in a much softer tone than she had ever heard him speak in, "Well... we'd travel a lot. To France, North America, Africa, The Alps, The Asian countries. Father always had... business to attend to, so it was usually just Mother and I... if you hadn't noticed, I'm an only child, so I never had the ranks of companions my age that you were benefitted with, so yes, I'd have to say Mother and I travelled..." he sounded quite different from the Malfoy that she was used to. Ginny momentarily wondered if this was how he spoke to Harry, when he knew no one was listening. He seemed to have dropped his prickly defenses, if only for a moment. He continued, "Mother always used to tell me about Romania. She always had pictures, Wizard and Muggle ones. And paintings. She did a few of them herself. It was her favourite place as a child. She practically grew up here. The reason that she named me 'Draco' was for the dragons. It made her... remember..."  
  
Ginny nodded somberly, "Well... what do you think of it?"  
  
Draco shook his head as if snapping out of a trance, and shifted his legs beneath the weight of his history book, "I... it's not what I suspected. I always saw forest and chapels, but all I see now is gray... and all I can think of is..." he stopped himself and immidietly bristled, "Why the hell am I talking to you!" he snarled, randomly vicious, "You're the source of my misery." he began reading his book pointedly.  
  
Ginny didn't know what to make of all of this, and didn't have the energy to gather her thoughts, so she replied instead, "I don't think that's true... it's Harry, isn't it?"  
  
Malfoy ignored her.  
  
  
*.*  
  
  
"Hey, Percy?"  
  
"Yeah Fred?"  
  
"Um... you still in trouble?"  
  
"..."  
  
"Perc?"  
  
"What are you talking about."  
  
"You know... the problems with... well... you know who?"  
  
"..."  
  
"Percy... we're sort of..."  
  
"I know, and you and George were stupid to get yourselves involved in such things."  
  
"Oh, and you weren't?"  
  
"I didn't know!"  
  
"Neither did we!"  
  
"That's no excuse, Fred. You two have to learn how to take responsibility for your actions!"  
  
"Speak for yourself."  
  
"I came to you because I thought I might be able to get some... advice."  
  
"Hmph. What's with this sudden respect."  
  
"Oh, come off it Perc. This is just stupid. You know George and I have always secretly looked up to you. You're smart. You were a prefect. George and I could never even have dreamed of achieving that!"  
  
"... well... I'm sorry, but I have my own problems."  
  
"Great attitude."  
  
"Oh well. This is what these times do to people."  
  
"Whatever... sweet dreams Percy."  
  
Neither noticed Ginny, as usual. She felt rejected, but scared for her brothers. She foresaw an end of sorts approaching, and rapidly. She didn't sleep that night, just stared at the ceiling gathering her thoughts and slowly piecing together the puzzle, now that she had aquired all the pieces. And then, she cried.  
  
  
*.*  
  
  
The end of summer vacation hit like a physical blow. Charile, ever the excellent host, called a "family" dinner at which everyone who had used the cabin over the summer was required to attend. The intention was admirable, but you couldn't have asked for a more awkward situation. Ginny sat between Ron and her Mother, feeling very much isolted in her sole knwoledge of the secrets floating around in the sickening silence. She hated how the adults were tip toing around important issues. She hated how Percy looked so guilty, and the twins so scared, and Hermione, usually so bright and full of life and conversation, was silent and pale.  
  
A storm was brewing silently inside of her. She stared at her peas intensely. Someone dropped a fork, and she snapped.  
  
"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" she screamed, pushing her chair back with a loud creak, and leaping to her feet. Her glass of pumpkin juice toppled and her utensils went sailing across the table. Her parents stared at her in horror, her brothers and friends in shock. Malfoy seemed supremely amused and his mother continued eating her meal silently.  
  
"Really, Miss Weasley. What sort of table manners are those for such a young lady to have." Malfoy drawled snidley, all but restraining himself from a fit of mad giggles.  
  
"Shut up, Malfoy. It's all your fault anyways. Yours and your Mother's. You two brought the war to us this summer. Couldn't just let us steal away in peace!? Everyone knows you're a death eater!"  
  
Malfoy dropped his cup and had a problem closing his mouth. He narrowed his eyes at Ginny wearing a concentrated look of speechlessness.  
  
"Go ahead, show everyone your dark mark." she sneered, glancing at Harry from the corner of her vision. He was wearing a dark expression. The kind of determined, world-saving, heroic one he wore when there was dark magic about.  
  
"Oh, don't look so surprised, Harry." she choked, forcing the words out, "Don't act like you didn't know. I mean, you've only been sleeping with the bastard for God knows how long!"  
  
If the gathering was not duly shocked before, they were now as several more glasses shattered as hands let them loose. Harry shrunk from Hermione and Ron's disgusted, questioning stares and Percy stood up across from his sister.  
  
"Ginny, what do you think you're trying to pull. Stop telling such ridiculous stories! I'd thought you'd outgrown this years ago!"  
  
"Why should I stop, Percy!?" Ginny wondered defiantly, "For all you know, this is all true! Do you want me to stop before I tell Mum and Dad what kind of trouble you've gotten yourself into?" Percy paled, "Trouble with Lord Voldemort? And George and Fred too!" The twins also paled, "The kind that's hard to get out of? You dabbled in their business, isn't that right boys? And now they're trying to recruit you?"  
  
Mrs. Weasley had observed this, analyzed it and carefully considered the situation before she stood and hollered, "Ginny! BE QUIET!"  
  
The girl cringed beneath her mother's mighty roar (as did everyone else at the table, with the exception of Narcissa Malfoy, who, having lived through the revelation of her son's involvment with the Boy Who Lived, was calmly sipping her wine, eyeing Ginny as a predator eyes a rival). Ginny straightened herself for retort and answered, quietly, "No."  
  
Silence.  
  
"I'm tired of being lied to. Just because I'm the youngest here doesn't mean I'm stupid. I'm fifteen years old. I... I hear things too. I figured things out and you all just tiptoe around with your secrets and yout lies like I don't have a care in the world and they don't bother me too. I KNOW the Ministry collapsed! That's something that not even the other kids know. I know what that means! I'm the one who figured out about everyone. You ALL had secrets. This house was loud with whispers. No one even suspected about Harry and Malfoy here... I knew before Ron about Hermione, and I know she's doing it because she was forced to use the Avada Kedavra." Hermione gasped, and buried her face in her hands, "I overheard the boys talking, and I even know the Mrs. Malfoy is hiding something from her son..." Ginny turned and forced Malfoy to meet her gaze. She said quietly, "Draco... your father is in Azkaban."  
  
The blonde was shellshocked. His face drained impossibly, and he shot his mother a bitter, accusatory glare. Then, he did something no one expected. He stood up, slammed his chair back and ran from the room crying. Narcissa's dangerous look deepend and she made a fist.  
  
Ginny was done. The hurt on Malfoy's face stunned her, not because she had hurt him per say, but because she realized that she HAD hurt almost everyone sitting at the table. She tried to sit down, but was too numb. She was too lightheaded from yelling to stand properly either, so she just swayed, and caught her chair's high back before she fell.  
  
Her mother caught her shoulders and shook her lightly, "Ginny, why did you do this!?" she demanded.  
  
Ginny blinked, suddenly very tired, "I... I just... I just don't want you all to think I'm some stupid little girl anymore. I'm not. I wanted you to know, Mum, you and Dad, and the boys, and Harry. I'm NOT just a kid with a lot of brothers and a stupid, unrealistic crush. No one really sees me for who I am and... and I guess I just..." she sobbed, suddenly, tears hot in her eyes.  
  
Her mother slapped her sharply. Not enough to sting, but enough that it stopped her tears, "What..."  
  
Her mother interrupted her, "You have no right to be crying! You ruin everyone's dinner... you ruin everyone's SUMMER and then ask to be treated like an adult. You have the AUDICITY to ask us to treat you like an adult when you're standing here carrying on and crying like a little girl!? What you did tonight was uncalled for! Never in my LIFE have I had one of my children do and say things that were just so... wrong! What you have to learn Ginny, is that if people are keeping secrets, they have their reasons, and they're usually pretty damn good ones!" Ginny nodded deftly, hardly hearing. Her mother shook her again, Ginny snapped back to attention, "Look around you!" Ginny did so, "Look around at all the misery you've brought everyone! Look at how unhappy you've made your friends... your family! Our GUESTS! I want you to apologize. Do it NOW!"  
  
Mrs. Weasley let go of her daughters shoulders and Ginny looked at the floor, "I'm sorry." she mumbled, "Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred and George, Perc, Mum, Dad, Charlie... I'm sorry..."  
  
"Apologize to Mrs. Malfoy too." she said sternly, "Her business is none of yours."  
  
"I'm sorry Mrs. Malfoy." Narcissa continued to glared, but the whites on her clenched knuckles dissapeared.  
  
"Now, I want you to go find Malfoy and apologize to him as well."  
  
Ginny's eyes widened. That, she felt, she could never do. She looked at her Mother pleadingly, but Mrs. Weasley was unflinching. Ginny lowered her head and walked away from the table, ashamed, and unable to meet the unfriendly looks from those once closest to her.  
  
  
*.*  
  
  
Malfoy was outside, staring at the first evening stars. His arms were wrapped around himself in the chilly, early autumn breeze, and there were still lingering tears in his gray eyes. He spoke before he saw Ginny approach.  
  
He said: "I don't want your apology."  
  
Ginny didn't answer, so Malfoy took the chance to say something more.  
  
"Y'know... I really think us Slytherins get a bad rap sometimes..." he turned around and fixed a puffy, red-eyed but still decidedly evil look upon her, "You Gryffindors can be just as nasty as we are sometimes."  
  
"I... I wasn't trying to be nasty!" Ginny insisted.  
  
"Really?" he huffed, "Then what exactly were you trying to be? Saying things that you knew would hurt people. I watched you while you told your mother off, exposed your brother's secrets... MY secrets... the glimmer in your eyes... you were enjoying it. That was a power trip for you!"  
  
"N... no..."  
  
"Oh, come off it. You want to know something, Weasley? Something interesting?" Ginny was silent. Malfoy took three strides forwards, and pulled his shirt sleeve to his elbow. Ginny winced, but was surprised to see only white skin. Malfoy raised the other arm and did the same thing, "Don't go around assuming things. If I were a Death Eater, don't you think Potter would've killed me by now?" Ginny shrugged, "Oh, have more faith in him than that... listen, if you want to worm your way into Wonderboy's heart, you at least need to learn a thing or two about him. Not much except for flying and attention makes him happy, and he is sickeningly loyal to his devotion against all things Voldemort. You flatter me much more than I deserve if you think he would let me live, knowing I wore the mark of the Dark Lord."  
  
"And what makes you the Harry Potter expert all of a sudden?" she wondered in a shaky voice, meant to sound bravado filled.  
  
Malfoy hmphed, "I've been the expert on Harry Potter since before you even came to Hogwarts." he examined his nails, eyelashes fluttering, undescribable emotion flickering across his sharp face, "After hating someone for so long, sometimes things just click... you know, I had every Potions class to study him."  
  
Ginny didn't know what to say, "T... Thank you for the advice?" It was more a question then a genuine thanks.  
  
Malfoy snapped out of his daydream and glared at her agian, "It wasn't advice. It was common sense. I'm mocking you, Weaslette. You know, maybe you should have been in Slytherin... I'm starting to think the lines between us and you isn't so defined as they make it out to be... after all, Potter was almost sorted into Slytherin, and Wormtail was a Gryffindor." he walked past her briskly, sending her one more wry look, "See you at Hogwarts in three days, Mrs. Potter."  
  
  
*.*  
  
  
Fin  
  
  
  
  
  
  
POST FIC NOTES: Don't think too badly of anyone, especially not Mrs. Weasley or Ginny. This fic was meant to be short but just kept going and going and going. I'm not so sure about the end, but it had to end sometimes, otherwise I would've just kept on writing it until I either died or fried my brain. In the end, I quite like it. It's a bit weird, a bit hard to follow and a bit abrupt in places, and the message is all over the place, but never the less, I had fun writing it. Two great things I found during thw whole process, Narcissa Malfoy is cool, and if played right, Draco and Ginny have a very intruiging relationship. Fanfiction is not all about developing romances, you know. ^ ^  
Just in case Viktor's note was a little difficult on the brain, here's the translation:  
  
Dearest Hermione  
  
I apologize for my horrible english, but my tutor had insisted I learn how to write it properally. I have been very worried since you wrote about what happened with the Death Eater. You are one of the most talented witches I have ever met, and I do not think that you should give up because of it. Do not think me harsh, but it is a war You-Know-Who has started and even good people like you do things they may regret. If you hadn't done what you did, you're parents might have died. Anyone would have done the same. You were not disobeying Dumbledore, you were protecting what is important to you and I am sure you will not be expelled. I await your reply anxiously.  
  
Love Viktor  
  
That's about it. I anxiously await reviews, because I'm getting the feeling that this fic isn't nearly as great as I think it is...  
  
-sincerely  
Jennifer Lynne Sparky Young  
aka Izzy Girl  
aka Cephied Variable 


End file.
